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Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving -- making one of the dumbest American-Centric statements I've ever heard
By Andrew Pollack on 11/26/2004 at 10:07 AM ESTOk. I watched this show with my kids last night. It started off with a statement by Linus (no, not Torvalds) about how important the holiday is. He actually declared that "these early American's were the first to declare a holiday to be thankful".
Um...hello?
1. Harvest festivals dedicated to thanking the deity of choice for the culture go back as far as recorded history and well before. They are nearly universal.
2. These "early American's" were nothing of the sort -- they were a theocracy looking for a quiet backwater to practice their own brand of religious zealotry.
And now back to our program....
Oh, not to mention that, at that time, they weren't "Americans" - they were Brits.By Rock on 11/29/2004 at 11:22 AM EST
My own thoughts on this are...By Jon Johnston on 11/29/2004 at 10:46 PM EST
You immediately explained this to your kids, right? And they understood it?
Or did you instead use it as a teaching moment to explain how important it is
to be thankful that we live in the richest country in the world, and that we
have an obligation to the poorest?
I don't know how old your kids are, but my kids are years away from
understanding the first. The second they can at least grasp.
It's Charlie Brown, man! Charlie Brown! Would you rather have this or the
Simpsons Thanksgiving?
Or did you instead use it as a teaching moment to explain how important it is
to be thankful that we live in the richest country in the world, and that we
have an obligation to the poorest?
I don't know how old your kids are, but my kids are years away from
understanding the first. The second they can at least grasp.
It's Charlie Brown, man! Charlie Brown! Would you rather have this or the
Simpsons Thanksgiving?
Who should we be obligated to?By Alex Wilson on 12/02/2004 at 01:25 PM EST
Every third world nation that suffers, many because of their own stupidity and
greed? What about the millions upon millions in this country that are spending
the night tongith wondering the streets looking for something to eat because
they have no money?
Why don't they have any money? Our economy has been in the tank for many years.
We are quickly becoming a divided nation of rich and poor. I will agree that
many people have created their own mess by years of spending on credit, living
way outside their means. How many SUV's and fancy vacations does one need? What
about big screen TV's, game systems, expensive clothing, etc?
Before we take care of the world, I believe we need to take care of ourselves.
Besides, most of our world wide efforts fail miserably due to mismanagement and
local problems. Look at Somalia - the UN tried to hand out food. The warlords
hijacked the food supplies. We had to step in and we got bloodied due to poor
policy management. Same thing in Iraq today - we try to help, they get killed
for accepting our help. It is a no win situation.
As for the UN, we need to quit throwing money into that rat hole and use it at
home to fix our problems. If you are homeless, you can't get a job because you
don't have a permenant address. So how the heck are you supposed to get back on
your feet? I am not in favor of social welfare programs. I would rather see us
educate and empower people to make better choices.
Let us be thankful for what we have and more so, take action to preserve our
way of life and improve it for our less fortunate neighbors - the ones in our
own communities.
greed? What about the millions upon millions in this country that are spending
the night tongith wondering the streets looking for something to eat because
they have no money?
Why don't they have any money? Our economy has been in the tank for many years.
We are quickly becoming a divided nation of rich and poor. I will agree that
many people have created their own mess by years of spending on credit, living
way outside their means. How many SUV's and fancy vacations does one need? What
about big screen TV's, game systems, expensive clothing, etc?
Before we take care of the world, I believe we need to take care of ourselves.
Besides, most of our world wide efforts fail miserably due to mismanagement and
local problems. Look at Somalia - the UN tried to hand out food. The warlords
hijacked the food supplies. We had to step in and we got bloodied due to poor
policy management. Same thing in Iraq today - we try to help, they get killed
for accepting our help. It is a no win situation.
As for the UN, we need to quit throwing money into that rat hole and use it at
home to fix our problems. If you are homeless, you can't get a job because you
don't have a permenant address. So how the heck are you supposed to get back on
your feet? I am not in favor of social welfare programs. I would rather see us
educate and empower people to make better choices.
Let us be thankful for what we have and more so, take action to preserve our
way of life and improve it for our less fortunate neighbors - the ones in our
own communities.
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